Holy Pascha: The Resurrection of Our Lord
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith; receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. (Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom, read at Paschal Matins) The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the center of…
Feasts and Saints
Great and Holy Saturday (The service of Great Martyr George will be celebrated on the Bright Monday)
Great and Holy Saturday On Great and Holy Saturday the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s descent into Hades, the place of the dead. Death, our ultimate enemy, is defeated from within. “He (Christ)…
Great and Holy Friday (Non-liturgical day. Matins); St. Theodore the Sykeote the Bishop of Anastasiopolis
Great and Holy Friday On Great and Holy Friday, Christ died on the Cross. He gave up His spirit with the words: “It is finished” (John 19:30). These words are better understood when rendered: “It…
Great and Holy Thursday (Matins); Hieromartyr Januarius the Bishop of Benevento; Hieromartyr Theodore of Perge in Pamphylia; Martyr Alexandra the empress
The Great and Holy Thursday Two events shape the liturgy of Great and Holy Thursday: the Last Supper of Christ with His disciples, and the betrayal of Judas. The meaning of both is in love.…
Great and Holy Wednesday (Matins); St Theotimus, Bishop of Tomis; Venerable Theodore Trichinas
Great and Holy Wednesday On Great and Holy Wednesday, the hymns of the Bridegroom Service remind us of the sinful woman who poured precious ointment on Christ’s head at Simon the leper’s house (Mt. 26:7).…
Great and Holy Tuesday; Venerable John of the Ancient Caves in Palestine; Hieromartyr Paphnutius of Jerusalem
Great and Holy Tuesday On Holy and Great Tuesday, we commemorate the parable of the ten virgins, because the Lord related this parable to His disciples as He was going toward Jerusalem to His Holy…
Great and Holy Monday; Venerable John the Disciple of the Venerable Gregory of Decapolis
Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY: THE END These three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week…
(†) Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem (Fish permitted). 6th Sunday of Great Lent (Palm Sunday)
Palm Sunday is the celebration of the triumphant entrance of Christ into the royal city of Jerusalem. He rode on a colt for which He Himself had sent, and He permitted the people to hail…
Virginmartyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia in Thessalonica (Lazarus Saturday – Memorial Saturday)
The Holy Martyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia were sisters who lived at the end of the third century to the beginning of the fourth century, near the Italian city of Aquilea. They were left orphaned…
Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens and Trophimus of the Seventy; Martyr Crescens
Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens and Trophimus of the Seventy Saint Aristarchus was one of the Seventy Apostles, whom the Lord Jesus Christ sent to proclaim the good news of the Gospel (Luke. 10:1-24). Saint Aristarchus, a co-worker…